'Nasty News - Traversing Time & Space' Vol: 58

[nasty daddy]

http://www.detroitbadboys.com/archives/ ... ame-recap/

The Takeaway
Like many young teams, Detroit is prone to caring only when it “matters”. By that point, they have buried themselves in an insurmountable hole.

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http://www.detroitbadboys.com/archives/ ... ame-recap/

Elsewhere in the NBA
Monta Ellis dropped 42, but the Warriors fell to the Spurs. The Nuggets continue to stake their place in the “best team in the NBA” discussion, beating the hapless Timberwolves on the road. A last minute Beasley putback dunk lifted the Miami Heat over the Orlando Magic, further scuttling the Eastern Conference leaderboard.

Oh, and Allen Iverson retired. He will be missed, I guess.

[nasty daddy]

http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=291125023

Donte Greene made six 3-pointers and tied a career high with 24 points, and the Sacramento Kings never trailed in a 111-97 victory over the New York Knicks on Wednesday night.

Rookie Tyreke Evans had 19 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists for Sacramento, which snapped a four-game losing streak. It was the first time in eight games that the rookie from Memphis failed to score 20 or more.

David Lee had 25 points and 12 rebounds for the struggling Knicks. Nate Robinson also scored 25 points and Al Harrington added 17 for New York, which shot 38 percent.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.nba.com/video/games/pistons/ ... index.html

Cavaliers vs. Pistons
Mike Brown's Cavaliers head into Detroit and get a win over the Pistons.

Video in the link above^.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.nba.com/pistons/photogallery ... 125_1.html

Pistons vs. Cavs

Photo gallery in the link above^.

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http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/b ... thru.0321/

Banged-up Pistons lose Ben Gordon to ankle injury
Detroit Pistons guard Ben Gordon did not play in the second half against the Cleveland Cavaliers because of a sprained left ankle and isn't sure when he will be back on the court.

Gordon said, "I have no idea,'' when asked about the severity of the injury after the Cavs beat Detroit Wednesday night.

The Pistons are taking Thanksgiving off before hosting the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday night.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.nba.com/pistons/news/CLEDET_ ... uotes.html

Pistons vs. Cavaliers
Postgame Quotes - November 25, 2009
Regular Season Game #15
Pistons Head Coach John Kuester
(On game)
“I thought that the first half we allowed them to feel too comfortable and what I mean by that is that they brought the ball up and there was no pressure, we were just trying to get bodies-on-bodies. I wasn’t happy with our offensive execution. Second half, you hold a powerful offensive team to 20 and 18 points. We did a much better job of pressuring them up and forcing some turnovers and we started making some shots. They are a well-coached and outstanding basketball team, but we have to make sure that we don’t dig ourselves a hole like that. Our guys worked real hard tonight though, but we know this thing is a work in progress and we just need to continue to get better.”

(On how to overcome injuries)
“This is where guys like Jonas, DaJuan and Austin find out this isn’t the summer league. They were getting 18-20 points there and we know that they can put it in the hole here. We have to trust those guys and we also need to get more out of Charlie. One of the things that can’t happen is that players feel pressure to do more than they are capable of doing. We just need to continue to play, continue to defend and if anything I want them to feel a sense of urgency not so much offensively, as I do defensively. We need to have more stops and do a better job.”

[nasty daddy]

http://www.nba.com/pistons/news/CLEDET_ ... uotes.html

Pistons Forward Charlie Villanueva
(On Ben Gordon's Injury)
“It's tough. It seems like injuries have been playing a factor throughout this whole season for us. We can't get a break. Hopefully it's not that bad of a sprain. Hopefully he can recover quick but I don't know how serious the injury is. It gives an opportunity for somebody else.”

(On the Cavaliers)
“They played with an attitude and a lot harder than us in the first half. In the second half we picked it up tremendously. You got to play 48 minutes of basketball to win, especially us being shorthanded our mistakes have to be limited.”

(On Austin Daye and the Rookies)
“He played solid. We're asking a lot from our rookies, especially because of our injuries. They're playing great. They're playing terrific. They're playing with a lot of confidence and hopefully they'll keep getting better.”

[nasty daddy]

http://www.nba.com/pistons/news/CLEDET_ ... uotes.html

Cavalier Head Coach Mike Brown
(On the game)
“We did a decent job but then we gave up a lot of second chance opportunites and 50-50 balls that they got to instead of us. That’s something we need to take care of in the second half when we have the lead. We need to get rebounds and keep the opponents off the glass. We got solid production from our bench which was good and then ‘Bron was ‘Bron. He shoots almost 50% from the field and gets almost a triple-double again. For a guy as talented as he is, it seems so ordinary. It was a tough physical game for us and we give Detroit and Coach Kuester credit.”

(On Detroit’s adjustments in the second half)
“They turned up the physical game which turned into some turnovers for us and then got the 50-50 balls and offensive rebounds which turned into second-chance points for them.”

[nasty daddy]

http://www.nba.com/pistons/news/CLEDET_ ... uotes.html

Cavalier Forward LeBron James
(On the Cavs’ execution)
“We could have executed better. We made some tough shots at the end when they got close but it’s always good to get tested now and again and that’s exactly what it was tonight.”

(On whether he was concerned at the end of the game when the Pistons got close)
“When games are close, it’s time for me to do what I do best and that’s close the game out. I wasn’t concerned at all. We had a big lead and they made shots. We didn’t do a good job keeping them off the offensive glass. “Every shot I took tonight felt good - especially in the fourth quarter. I love being on that end on the road when they’re all screaming and I can quiet them down.”

[nasty daddy]

http://www.nba.com/pistons/news/CLEDET_ ... uotes.html

Cavaliers Forward Anderson Varejao
(On how they were able to finish strong)
“We kept playing hard and Lebron made plays at the end, Mo (Williams) made a couple free throws and that was very important for us.”

(On closing out games on the road)
“I’m glad we got that because obviously in the fourth quarter we still had to figure out what to do. The reason why they got back into the game was because we allowed them to score and they played well. In the fourth quarter we had to go back to what we did well in the first half to win the game.”

[nasty daddy]

http://www.nba.com/pistons/news/trueblu ... 91125.html

Ouch!
The good news? If bad news really does come in threes, then the Pistons’ run of injuries is over. The bad news? You couldn’t have picked a worse candidate to join Rip Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince in Arnie Kander’s House of Rehab than Ben Gordon. Gordon twisted his left ankle three minutes before halftime of Wednesday’s 98-88 loss to Cleveland, to conveniently go with Hamilton’s right ankle sprain that’s kept him out the past 14 games and Prince’s ruptured disc that’s sidelined him for 12 games. That means players who combine to average 58 points per game – or 63 percent of the Pistons’ offense – and occupy the top three spots on their payroll, accounting for more than 50 percent of Joe Dumars’ salary structure, are now unavailable for the foreseeable future. Officially, Gordon is day to day – but then so are Hamilton and Prince. Asked how serious his injury was after the game, Gordon said, “I have no idea.” Which, if you fed John Kuester truth serum, would probably be his response to the question of where the Pistons are going to get their scoring without Gordon, Prince and Hamilton. Coaches are conditioned to roll with the punches on injuries, but Kuester admitted the thought “what next?” flashed through his mind when Gordon, after cutting through the teeth of Cleveland’s defense late in the second quarter, crumpled and stayed down until the basket. “I just went, goodness gracious,” he said. “But that’s part of the NBA. Being honest with you, you never want to see a player go down, and Ben has put that in the forefront right now.” Scoring wasn’t the biggest issue on the Pistons’ plate in a first half in which Cleveland scored 60 and shot 61 percent. Here’s the kind of half it was: The Cavs led by nine after one quarter, the Pistons scored on eight of their first nine possessions of the second quarter – as sublimely as they’ve played offensively since the opening-night win, their one game all season at full strength – and somehow found themselves trailing by 13.

They held Cleveland to 38 points in the second half and somehow cut an 18-point deficit to five with 1:13 to play, leaning on the scoring of Rodney Stuckey (25) and Charlie Villanueva (19). But Will Bynum, so dynamic off Kuester’s bench for so much of the season, shot 1 of 13 and finished with four points. Those three represent what’s left of the Pistons’ legitimate scoring threats and when one of them is missing 12 of 13 shots, their chances to win are greatly compromised. “It probably was my fault,” said Bynum, himself dealing with a tender right ankle and a nagging big toe injury on his left foot. “The way I shot the ball was extremely out of character. I had some good shots, but I can’t play like that and Ben go out and expect for us to win. It put too much on Stuckey out there. Part of that was my fault. I need to do a little bit more. If I need to get up and pressure the ball and do something else to get our team going, then that’s what I have to do.” h Stuckey is averaging almost 17 points a game, Villanueva about 16 and Bynum 14. Kuester said he’s not sure what he does with his starting lineup if Gordon isn’t back by Friday – and that’s extremely unlikely – but rookie Austin Daye started with Stuckey in Wednesday’s second half with Bynum retaining his off-the-bench role. The pressure on all three to score at or above their averages exists, but Kuester said it’s imperative that they don’t try to shoulder more than they can assume and that the emphasis on defense has to be that much greater given the scoring void left by Hamilton, Prince and Gordon. “One of the things that can’t happen is that players feel pressure that they have to do more than they’re capable of doing,” he said. “Just continue to play, continue to defend. And if anything, I want them to feel a sense of urgency, not so much offensively as defensively.” The three players to whom the scoring burden now falls understand the circumstances that have befallen them. “Still play within ourselves, but we just have to do a little bit more, each and every one of us,” Villanueva said. “I’ve been in this situation before in Milwaukee where we had a lot of guys out. It’s kind of similar here, but it just creates more opportunities for other individuals and you’ve got to take advantage of it.”

The Pistons are almost always going to have at least two, and often three, players on the floor who aren’t going to draw much in the way of defensive attention, which makes it that much difficult for their few remaining scorers to get clean looks. “I’ve just got to go out there and still try to create for my teammates,” Stuckey said. “They’ve just got to be ready to shoot the ball. That’s one thing I tell Jonas (Jerebko). When he’s in the corner and we pass it to him, he’s got to be ready to shoot it.” “We just have to create, make opportunities for other people and try to buckle down and defend,” Bynum said. “We’ve got to get stops, try to get some easy baskets, get out and run. I think we’ll be fine if we just keep getting better every day in practice.” The wild card in the equation now is the opportunity created for the three rookies – Jerebko, Daye and DaJuan Summers – and how Kuester can adapt what the Pistons do at both ends to cover their inexperience and exploit their strengths, which is namely their length and versatility. If Daye winds up starting, the Pistons will be big and could wind up playing more zone or hybrid defenses. Summers and Daye put two more 3-point shooters on the floor, though losing Gordon takes away their greatest perimeter scoring threat. “This is where guys like Jonas, DaJuan and Austin find out. This isn’t Summer League,” Kuester said. “but they were getting 18 to 20 points and we have to trust those guys.” “We’re trying to do different things,” Stuckey said. “We’re trying to play a zone. The young guys, they bring a lot of energy. We’re just trying to change up some things and hopefully it will work.” Lost in absorbing the shock of seeing Gordon go down was the continued solid work of Jerebko defensively, who spent much of his 30 minutes guarding LeBron James. James finished with 34, but James did a solid job keeping James in front of him and making him shoot jump shots. Ten of his points came in the first 9:22 of the game, but Jerebko could hardly be faulted for much of that. He turned his head once and got beat for a back-door layup, but LeBron’s first four points came in transition off of a forced Pistons shot and a turnover. His third basket came on a 22-footer from the wing and his fourth came when Jerebko cut off the baseline and forced LeBron into a difficult turnaround jumper. In the fourth quarter, he again forced him into jump shots, missing three long ones sandwiched around a down-the-middle dunk in which James picked up his dribble at the top of the circle and appeared to take four steps to the basket.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.nba.com/pistons/news/trueblu ... 91125.html

Kwame Brown, who sat out the final two games of the Western road swing, was back in the rotation ahead of Chris Wilcox. Brown played 14 minutes and grabbed five rebounds. Solid game for Jason Maxiell, who put up 10 points and four boards in 16 minutes.

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http://lifeondumars.com/2009/11/25/rodn ... uld-start/

Rodney Stuckey vs. Will Bynum: Who Should Start?
There’s been a lot of talk among Detroit Pistons blogs and fans that are calling for backup point guard Will Bynum to take the reins from starter Rodney Stuckey and start in his place. And it’s not a bad idea it would seem at first glance. Looking at the raw stats Bynum is averaging 14 points per game, along with 4 assists and 3.5 rebounds in just 28 minutes per game while shooting 50% from the field. Meanwhile, Stuckey on the season is averaging 16.5 points per game, along with 4 assists and 5.1 rebounds in 37.8 minutes per game while shooting 38% from the field. So it would seem that Bynum is essentially outplaying Stuckey and in fewer minutes as well. Their stats are a virtual dead heat; Stuckey averages more points and rebounds but Bynum is shooting better and is the better passer at the moment. So the Pistons should start Will Bynum right? Not so fast. While Bynum is playing better right now, Stuckey has a few advantages going for him. First off, injuries to Rip Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince have led to Stuckey playing out of position a lot. Bynum has only been playing point guard, but Stuckey has played a little bit of point guard, shooting guard, and small forward as well. So we have to cut him a little slack for that. Stuckey is also taller, bigger, and (probably) stronger than Bynum. Since Hamilton is out, Ben Gordon is starting games at the SG position. But Gordon is undersized and usually guards the opposing PG as he cross-matches with Stuckey, who guards the other teams’ usually bigger SG. The bottom line is that the Pistons can’t really start Bynum and Gordon together. They’re just both too undersized to be on the court for an extended period of time.

I also feel that Bynum’s style of play is better suited coming off the bench. The Pistons are a slow-paced team and Bynum coming off the bench is like a shot in the arm. Stuckey’s methodical approach is better suited for the starting lineup. A point guard struggling in his first few seasons for Detroit is nothing new. Just look at Chauncey Billups’ stat line from his first season as a Piston: 16 point per game along with 3.9 assists and 3.7 rebounds in 31 minutes per game while shooting 42% from the field. Billups was 26 years old at the time. I think it’s just too early to judge the 23 year old Stuckey. He’s had to endure breaking his hand as a rookie and missing over 1/3 of that season, playing behind Billups, playing behind Allen Iverson, starting alongside Iverson and Hamilton, starting alongside Hamilton and Prince, starting alongside Ben Gordon and a rookie in Jonas Jerekbo. The point is that he hasn’t had the luxury of gaining familiarity with a set lineup. Let’s wait and see what happens when Hamilton and Prince return from action. I really enjoy watching Will Bynum, but I think one reason Pistons fans like him is that nothing was expected of him. He started off last season as the third string point guard, then this year as the fourth guard in a three guard rotation. He’s surprised Pistons fans and non-Pistons fans alike because he was an unknown. Much more has been expected of Stuckey. From filling in for an injured Billups in the ’08 playoffs, to being singled out in Joe Dumars’ famous “sacred cows” speech after the ’08 playoffs, to being named the heir apparent to Billups after the huge trade last November, Stuckey has had a lot of pressure heaped on him. People were and still are expecting him to change into Chauncey Billups overnight. And really, that’s not fair. Chauncey didn’t even become Chauncey until his late 20’s.

Really, Pistons fans should be excited about the point guard position. Between the two players they’re getting 30 points per game along with 8 assists and 8.5 rebounds. That’s pretty impressive. My one concern is that I doubt Bynum continues to play 27 minutes per game once Hamilton comes back from his injury. I really want Bynum to get at least 20 minutes each and every game, but it remains to be seen if there will be enough minutes to go around for four quality starting guards.In summary, I feel that it’s just too soon to judge Rodney Stuckey. From last season to this one, Stuckey is shooting better on his free throws, averaging more steals, and playing better defenses. Of course, his shooting percentage and shot selection could definitely improve, but a certain point guard in Denver is sporting a pretty abysmal shooting percentage as well (40%). I want to see Stuckey run this team with a healthy Hamilton and Prince. If he’s still struggling, if his shooting percentage is still in the mid 30s, if Bynum is still outplaying him, then we can talk about starting Bynum or maybe even trading Stuckey. But let’s ease up on him until then.

[nasty daddy]

http://lifeondumars.com/2009/11/26/im-thankful/

I’m Thankful
That this guy isn’t the starting point guard for the Pistons.

Deep breaths Pistons fans. It could be worse.

Picture in the link above^.

[nasty daddy]

http://pistonsnationblog.com/2009/11/25 ... cleveland/

Pistons taking on turkeys from Cleveland
The Pistons (5-9, 3-2 home) will be hosting the Cleveland Cavaliers (10-4) Tip off is 8:00 pm est from the Palace of Auburn Hills and will be televised locally on Fox Sports Detroit, and can be heard on WWJ 950.
Cavs’ Snapshot
Road record: 5-2
Last game: 11/21 (Sat) W 91-97 vs. 76ers
Last 10: 8-2
Streak: Won 2
Injuries: Leon Powe (out: knee)

Although the losing streak remains the western road trip is behind the Pistons. It’s time to take what they learned about team work and giving consistent efforts for 48 minutes and use it to get a Thanksgiving-Eve win over the Cavs at the Palace. Shaquille O’Neal (11.3 ppg, 6.9 rpg) will be making his return not return tonight after missing the previous 5 games with a strained shoulder. Jonas Jerebko gets the assignment of guarding LeBron James (29.4p, 6.8r, 8.1a) tonight. “I can’t guard him by myself. I got to get some help in the lane,” Jerebko said. “We are going to do a good job defending him and I am going to do a good job with my defense too.” This will be John Kuester’s first crack at the team he masterminded on the offensive end, helping them to 66 wins in 2008-09. Watch for another former Cav, Ben Wallace, who kinda has a grudge against his former team for thinking he had nothing to offer come crunch time.

ALSO OF NOTE: Cleveland allows the fewest points in the paint (34.1) … Pistons trying to avoid 6 game losing streak … Cavs are a 5 point favorite … Bynum gets love, Stuckey gets none … RIP Abe Polin … HAPPY THANKSGIVING! …

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http://twitter.com/CV31

Hey FB Fans, I'm disappointed that we've been on a 5-game losing streak. It was a rough west coast road trip. We... http://bit.ly/5vnZER

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http://twitter.com/detroit_pistons

MLive: Pistons fall to Cavaliers, lose guard Ben Gordon to injured ankle: It's the sixth consecutive loss for Detro... http://bit.ly/86PhxC

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http://twitter.com/detroit_pistons

Freep: Ben Gordon (ankle) injured vs. Cavs: Shooting guard Ben Gordon is out for the rest of tonight's game against... http://bit.ly/5Q5yGp

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http://twitter.com/detroit_pistons

MLive: Statistically Speaking: Charlie Villanueva needs to log more time in the paint: Charlie Villanueva is a dyna... http://bit.ly/6eVZdT